Disclaimer: I do not own Negima in any form or any character or borrowed from an outside source. Any such idea will be marked and accredited to its rightful source at the chapter's end notes. Chapter 7: Sideliners under fire
11:00 Northern marketplace.
Amongst a crowd of people in the square Chisame, Asuna, Setsuna, and Chamo were discussing their next course of action. "Ku and Keade have already gone down in advance. I am going to join them now." Setsuna addressed the others "Asuna-san, please take care of Ojou-sama. Chisame-san, please help Negi-sensei."
"Right." Both agreed immediately. Then Asuna spotted something out of the corner of her eye that sparked her interest. "Hey isn't that Negi!" She announced to the others. Chisame fallowed her friend's eyes, and eventually found the person in question. Sure enough it was their teacher. "Yea, good eye!" She replied casually understating her amazement with her classmate's ridiculous eye sight. "What's with him I wonder?" Asuna thought aloud "What about his match?"
Chisame mused at just how much of a one track mind the girl could have. "They are allowed to eat lunch you know."
Then Setsuna noticed cause for concern. "Isn't his demeanor off?" Her concerns were proven justified only moments later when she and the others witnessed their sensei's power flare. She heard Asuna say Negi's name and rush towards the boy. "Chisame until we know what is going on stay at least 1kilomeater away and alert the others." She ordered the girl before taking off to join her friend.
Chisame was not about to argue with her friend over such matters. She immediately ran with Chamo on her shoulder to put adequate distance between her and the enemy. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to reach an ally that met her needs. As soon as she brought herself to a stop Chamo hoped down, so they could figure out what to do, which was the first question that the ermine asked her. "All we can do is call for help but Ku and Keade are already off the island we can't reach them. The best option would be to contact the self described invincible Jack Racan."
"Knowing that idiot, he is probably on the other side of the island." Chamo fumed readying himself to chase down the price gouging knucklehead that trained Negi. "But are you sure he'll help us?" It was a valid question; the man seemed completely fixated on money to the point that it seemed that hardly anything else sparked the slightest amount of interest in him.
Then Chisame remembered the man's reaction to the name of their enemy. "Mention Fate Averruncus's name that should be enough to get him to come. I'll try and contact Kotaro and the others some other way. Since it's them they'll probably be close by."
"Leave it to me!" Chamo declared taking off.
"I'm count on you." Chisame called to the ermine as he ran for help as fast as possible. "Don't overwork yourself!" As soon as Chamo was out of sight she got her computer set up to monitor the situation better, and began to relay the news to the others, she only hoped that they responded quickly. Luckily the response of the first of the reinforcements came within the first five minutes; unfortunately the first to arrive was the one girl in their group with about the same level of actual combat experience as her and the simplest artifact to counter given their enemy, Haruna. "Chu-san!" Haruna call to the girl as she approached. "Wow that was fast!" Chisame voiced her surprise at the artist's speed.
"Well I was close by." Paru explained quickly, dispelling Chisame's surprise just as quickly. "Any way what is the situation now?" "Well, right now they are just conversing, but he's just such an untrustworthy fellow that there is no telling how long that will last." Chisame explained, still in a panic about what to do. "Ok, we'll take him by surprise and leave him open for Negi-kun and the others take from the front." Haruna contemplated out loud to Chisame's growing horror. "Then while they are at it you can…"
"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Chisame yelled at the girl whose sanity, as far as she was concerned, was far past just in question. "There is no way can help that way. This isn't one of your darn comics where the heroes just band together, take down the bad guys, and retire to live like kings! This is reality! With real terrorist! Where people can really die!" Haruna was taken back for a minute. True comment about comics did irritate her, but that was overwhelmed by the fact that Chisame actually admitted this was reality. Things were even worse then she thought. "Well I'm sure that we can come up with something…"
"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but…" An unknown voice called to them from the other side of the alley, as soon as they looked they recognized its owner from one of the pictures in the file, it was one of Fate's subordinates. "…would you like a sample of this reality?" Chisame and Haruna cringed as she displaied a card, as they realized immediately what it was an artifact! "My name is Shirabe. Adeat!" They quickly answered with their own. Haruna immediately went to work on golem to engage the girl, but thankfully in the mere seconds that it took for their enemy to destroy that drawing, the artist had already completed another to get them to safty. However this didn't mean that Chisame liked being eaten by the catlike bouncy ball. By the time that the little hairball spit them out they were several rooftops away. "Ha looks like we lost her." Chisame announced as she searched area. "Well at least now we know that at least some of the information was accurate."
"Ya! Now let's go put it to use and go help Negi-kun!" Haruna cheered. However before either could do anything else, a voice that they wished they could forget snapped them out of their celebration. "Sorry, I cannot allow that!"Shirable announced as she touched down on the roof, perfectly composed, and completely stunning her opponents. "My mission is to block your path. If you'd stop running, you may listen to my recital."
Normally Chisame and Haruna would not object to listening to a violin recital, if for no other reason it would be a way to stall for the time they needed to come up with a plan, but if the information in that file was as right as it seemed then the sound wave that flattened Haruna's golem was thanks to the girl's artifact alone. Still how did the girl aim a sound wave, more over how did she even aim at all, from the looks of it the girl was blind, then again she could just be like Keade. They needed more time, but it'd be suicide to just sit there while the girl played her artifact. "Fine, if you do not wish to hear my recital then I must stop you by other means." Shrible replied seeming rather annoyed by their unwillingness. "No wait!" Chisame hastily called out. "We wouldn't mind some music."
"What!" Haruna shouted realizing what letting the girl play would mean. "We can't let her…" Haruna quickly found herself being silenced by sharp pain in the toes of her right foot.
"What she means that we would love to hear you play if you wouldn't mind using something other than that artifact." Chisame offered again trying to muster as much enthusiasm as possible while doubting that any word of what she said would work. Surprisingly the girl didn't reject the offer immediately, in fact she look almost disappointed.
"Sorry, but I don't have another instrument." The girl said as she raised the bow again. "Wait! What if we gave you one?"Chisame objected again, glancing at Haruna to start drawing an instrument suitable for their opponent. "I am not a fool! How could I trust any instrument you provide will not be trapped?" Shrible snapped looking rather offended.
"We wouldn't do that!" Haruna said with a chuckle, quickly flipping to clean page. "Come on we're both artist, sampling someone else's work is privilege that any artist can appreciate. Besides your mission is to keep us out of the fight, we can really only provide support, so it makes no sense for us to provoke a fight we can't win, especially when we have an opportunity to sample a fellow artist." Haruna explained, sounding like a used car salesman with buyer on the hook, already redrawing a violin for the girl to play. Both white wings members stared at the girl in nervous anticipation of the answer.
"Alright!" She agreed taking the instrument from Haruna much to the delight of her waiting audience. Their delight did not last long as the smooth sounds expected of a violin were replaced by something only describable as resembling pulling a cat as it dug its claws into chalkboard. Both girls cringed as they listened to the sound almost wishing that they were running away from the girl as she tried to kill them, which Haruna was no longer sure wasn't the case. She and Chisame just hoped they could hold out until Kotaro arrived.
In the skies of Ostia
An orb that seemed to shine like the sun sped through the air at an insane speed, drawing the attention of those below, however they were left unaware of its contents as it vanished from sight. To those inside the orb seemed quite different. The reason that the orb shined so intensely was that it repelled the light completely leaving the inside the epitome of a dark scary place, complete with screams provided by one of its occupants. "Anya-chan, could you please calm down? You're going to use up all the air." Nodoka asked the girl, growing increasingly agitated with her friend's screaming.
"How can I we go so fast with no idea of where we're going!" Anya yelled at her friend/rescuer. "Don't worry, I can see just fine." Nodoka reassured the girl calmly, trying to stay focused on getting to her friends. "To me this is just a glass ball."
"How can you possibly see, there is no light in here!?" Anya countered quickly, not see how the girl could possibly be telling the truth. "Fine we'll set down on the rooftop just ahead so you can see there is nothing wrong." Nodoka offered, only a few seconds before slowing to a stop. Slowly they descended until Anya felt them touch down The orb faded and light flooded the two girls' eyes; Nodoka really hated this aspect of the technique, although the energy around her served as a sort of sonar her eyes still had to adjust to the light. Thankfully her eyes had gotten use to this, and it did not take long to adjust to the light with Anya not much longer then herself. "See Anya-chan, there is nothing to worry about, nothing is in our way and the stadium is right over there. It's about fifteen blocks if you really want to walk it through the crowds then I'll set us down." Nodoka reassured the girl looking straight towards the place the others were using as their base.
Anya looked around uneasily, she was relieved that their path was clear, but the idea of solid seeable land beneath her feet did sound appealing, the fifteen blocks however did not it would take too long to get to Negi, still she wondered why they were heading to the stadium, even she wouldn't start a fight there with all its security. "Nodoka, why are we going to the stadium?"
"Well… I was going to drop you off." Nodoka replied skittishly, knowing the girl's blusterous nature. "I don't want them knowing that you're ok until they get back to their base." In truth the possibility of the enemy panicking at the sight of their escaped captive and rushing back to cheek on their base had crossed her mind, but she was not about to risk her friend getting captured again. Anya wanted to argue. She wanted to help, negi was one of few people left in her life that resembled family, and he was in fight with same person who nearly killed him when they first arrived. However there was really nothing she could do, she couldn't cast spells without a wand and even if she could at this point she doubted she could do anything to actually help. The more the girl thought about it the more it became clear to her that she had just been dead weight.
The girl's silence worried Nodoka, even more worrisome was when she looked at the girl, Anya had suddenly taken on a look of sheer gloom. Nodoka guess the reason, it was after all a reason she understood all too well. She reached into her sleeve and soon the sound of Velcro could be heard. A few seconds later she pulled out two things clenched in her hand: the training wand she had been carrying since they came to the magical world and the second one was some sort of winged ring. "Here take these." She said offering the items to her friend.
"Why now?" Anya thought out loud as she caught sight of the wand.
"Because I always planned to bring down their base and use the shock waves to stun the long enough to get away, but now we have to fight." Nodoka answered the girl. "The enemy has some that can impersonate someone perfectly; the Comptina Daemonia can tell you anyone's true name just by asking them. Anya-chan get this to Negi-sensei. I am going to bring us down to the street and then go on ahead, and when you meet up with the others please don't tell them what I look like."
The last part of Nodoka's instruction alarmed and confused Anya. Why would Nodoka be hiding from the others? It made no sense. However before she had time to give it any deeper thought both girls spotted an as an all too familiar sight appearing over the plaza, the same attack that took out the gate port when they first arrived, an attack that could only be from one person and meant for one other. Immediately Nodoka took action, however it was not an action that one would expect, as the girl jump to the next building top ten feet away with a forty foot was horrified; she could only pray that her friend used that bubble trick that brought them here, or there was no way the girl could survive such a fall. She rushed to the edge and looked down to see something that truly dumbfounded her, not only was Nodoka still alive but she had already moving to the building top."What the hacek is she made of?" She wondered aloud for a moment before remembering the gravity of the situation, and running to the door to the stairs.
Back with Haruna and Chisame.
Sorting through dozens of web pages Chisame had heard some pretty offal sounds, but even her ears could take no more she glanced at Haruna as to confrere and instantly they reached a silent agreement. They ran as fast as they could to escape the sound they had managed to endure for just over ten minutes, even knowing what they would face running, at this point even she would rather face death then one more minute of that racket. For once she was thankful for Haruna's inhuman drawing speed as the artist had all ready finished a golem to aid in their escape, why a flying manta ray was beyond her, but now she really didn't care. Both girls jumped on immediately, and Haruna quicly handed over control of the creature to Chisame, which was a simple matter placing her hand on the golem's head and thinking of where to go.
Shrible was just stunned at her audience's reaction to her recital, such insensitivity to her honest efforts filled her with embarrassment sadness and above all else anger to an indescribable degree. The next sound that the violin given to her produced was the sound of her crushing its neck in her hand and letting the rest hint the roof beneath her feet. She then took her artifact back out and chased after the pair determined to pay them back for this indignity. Her mission was to stop them from interfering in their masters' fight, when she first arrived she decide to simply have them captured by the patrols, but now only one thing would satisfy her. It took her only a few minute to have them in her sights again. They were riding low along the roof tops no doubt wait for the moment when they might need to take cover in the narrow streets below. A good idea, but unbeknownst to them, one that left them in a prime position for her other ability. Instead of taking aim at them directly she decided to take a captivating approach.
Haruna looked up from her work of preparing a way to lose their enemy to find that the girl was closing any lead that they had gained fast. She decided to put the first of her defenses into action, she flipped through her sketchbook to her first line of defense and summoned forth a dozen copies of Chu and herself on the flying manta. She hoped that this simple shell game would create an opening for them to escape, but that hope was quickly shot down as Shrible destroyed four of her doubles in seconds. Chisame looked back for a second at the sound of the explosion just in time to see Shrible destroy another copy of herself and Haruna. It was one thing to read about the capabilities of something, but actually see an exact copy of yourself blown to pieces in a matter of seconds was another matter altogether. However in this moment of terror neither of the girls saw the thing that would deliver them onto their enemy. By the time that she fixed her eyes back on the path ahead, she font a column of thick tangled vines only a few feet from them.
Chisame instantly tried to avoid it, but adding to her horror the manta simply vanished from beneath their feet flinging them down to the market square ahead of them. Now Shrible stood on the edge of the roof that her enemies had just fallen from, enjoying the sight of her foes falling to struggle to their feet. She allowed herself to soak in the moment in which she would not only accomplish her mission, but also avenge the indignity from her earlier recital. However she had a job to finish and the girls looked as though were about recovered from the fall, so she brought the bow up so that it rested on the string ready to play the last 'b flat' the girls before her would ever hear. Suddenly she felt something amiss and she jumped to avoid the danger just as flames engulfed the spot she was standing. Red blaze? Shrible thought herself recognizing. Fate-sama never mentioned anything about someone in their group knew fire magic of that level.
"Saotome-san, what the hell!" Chisame yelled at her friend not taking too kindly to being thrown from a building top without warning because the girl next to her messed up with her artifact. It was once the girl looked at her comrade that she realized what had happened. Chisame found her friend in far worst shape then herself; in fact the girl was unconscious and scraped up pretty bad from the fall as if she didn't even try to protect herself. It was the scrapes that made it clear that reason they fell was that Haruna was already out. Chisame checked to make sure that the worst hadn't become of the girl. Luckily Haruna was still alive, but she still needed some kind of medical attention. Now Chisame had an impossible choice before her, escape with Haruna like this was impossible, and her standing against this girl alone was insane, so it really came down to a literal question of life and death. Chisame could not believe this was happening or that she had seemingly already made her choice, a choice that six months ago would have stirred nothing but laughter from her. As she prepared herself for the next attack certain that it was to be the last she heard a familiar voice chanting something. "Lilith Lilioth Fortis La Tius Ūndētrīgintā Spīritūs Ignis Sagitta Magica! Seriēs Ignis"
Then she saw twenty-nine flames haltering towards the still airborne Shrible, and traced them back to a spot in the crowd by the street they were heading towards, only to see Anya, a sight that shocked both her and Shrible. Shrible managed to doge the girl's attack and found her footing on a crate across from her target, or so she thought. After regaining her footing she noticed the smell of something burning and a number of mutters going through the crowd. She quickly realized that the attack before been more accurate then she first though, then she felt a slight heat near her heels and realized that it was her hair that was burning. Shrible rushed to the stalls franticly searching for something to drown the flames before they reach her clothes disregarding her foes entirely. In her search she bumped into a barrel and heard its contents splash from the sudden impact. *Splash* Water! The girl though, now feeling two heat on her person leaving her only one option. She grabbed hold of the sides and threw herself into the barrel.
Meanwhile Anya was finding the event quite amusing, having a unique appreciation for the scene, but quickly remember the real task at hand. "Haruna!" she gasped remembering what happened just moment ago. She looked around for her friend and spotted her next to a young child; she hurried over to her obviously injured friend. "Get out of my way, brat!" She shouted at the person next Haruna, as she readied a healing spell on her way over.
Unfortunately Anya never made it over to her two friends as something hit her square in the back a few feet away, the next thing that any of them knew Anya was encased in a ball made of magical barriers. Chisame looked toward the sky for the source of the attack and froze it was the Aridne Knights. Dam it! We get saved only to get captured. Where the hell is Kotaro? Chisame thought to herself as the five knights descended encircling Anya, Haruna, and herself. "Looks like the reports were accurate, Class rep. These two match the description of the terrorist that attacked the gate port." Shouted the one on Chisame's right.
"Quite Collet, the report said that there were four terrorists wrecking havoc in the market place, they may still be close by." the one to the rear right of Anya ordered in reply. "Fan out and search the area"
"Class rep, one of the culprits and the child seem to be fairly injured." The one to the right of Collet interjected. "As they are wanted for questioning shouldn't we secure the information at hand?" The white wing members froze at the sound of the knight's voice. They recognized it immediately, it sound exactly like Yue. "Ah…right, good thinking Yue" the Class rep flinched at the correction. "You and Collet, escort the injured to medical ward and then bring her to her friend's cell."
Chisame could not believe it the last missing member of their group, who they were trying to find right under their noses, finally showing up only to turn in the three of them without a second thought. She just hoped that Anya wouldn't complicate things by voicing her anger at the girl. Much to Chisame's surprise, the hot-headed red head said nothing even as the knights took them back to their flag ship. However that hardly meant that she didn't react to this realization, the hurt on the girl's face was clear evidence of that.
Author notes: Sorry if this seems like the 'sideliners' were undercut in this chapter, but anyone who objectively will most likely agree that what let them survive as long as they did was mind reading with it gone things would go worse. Also the whole recital thing may seem stupid, but I can't imagine smart girls like Haruna and Chisame not trying to stall for time if they realized what the violin could do, and from the blush and smile on her face Shrible seemed quite glad at the chance to play for others. "Lilith Lilioth Fortis La Tius" is Anya's activation phrase it is in the middle corner panel of page "1" of chapter "179".
Ūndētrīgintā Spīritūs Ignis Sagitta Magica! Seriēs Ignis means 29 Spirits of fire. Magic Arrow! Fire Series! (Modified from Negi's incantation in chapter 25)
Also if you're wondering where Kotaro is, remember that unfortunately he interrupted Negi and Fate's fight and this little farce when Nodoka took part in it, and since Gem has already insisted that Fate actually fight the girl, it would be a shame to let Kotaro get in the way of progress. Secondly, Yes I know that a forty foot drop is not something you get up and walk away from like nothing happened, it will be explain within the next two chapters, and Negi will be getting a bit of screen time finally. With this new set up I am having some trouble deciding how it will affect the fights for the final conflict with Fate's group, so I put up poll, but be advised that just because a wins doesn't mean the character will, these battles will be written as realistic as possible. Next time: Chapter 8, Wakeup call. The Mentalist's revival.